Waste

The recently released Farm Bill contained many of the same wasteful spending items found in past Farm Bills, but also held a few surprises that if not contained with transparency and appropriate oversight could lead to further wasteful spending.

On April 17, 2018, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), chairman of the powerful House Committee on Armed Services, revealed a far-reaching proposal targeting the Defense Department’s so-called “Fourth Estate” agencies, which are maintained by around 200,000 civilian personnel and 600,000 contractors.

In a recent poll, a sizable portion of young Americans said they would rather vote for a giant meteor to strike the Earth over either of the two presidential candidates. There might be a reason for such a dark and depressing result. The first two presidential debates have utterly failed to discuss important issues facing the nation with any depth, choosing to focus on shenanigans instead of substance.

Before the first Presidential debate on September 27, 2016, CAGW proposed policy questions that would enlighten taxpayers as to where each candidate stands on critical government waste issues facing the nation. Unfortunately, the debate utterly failed to discuss any of these issues with any depth, choosing to focus on shenanigans instead of substance.

On Wednesday, December 2, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands held a hearing on a draft bill entitled the “National Park Service Centennial Act.” The purpose of the hearing was to discuss the legislation, which would establish a fund in the Treasury to finance signature projects and programs for the National Park System’s (NPS) 100th anniversary in 2016.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), more commonly known as Obamacare, did not have a very good October and it will only get worse for the President’s vaunted healthcare “reform” plan. Temporary walls that were built to protect Obamacare from market forces and normal consumer responses are starting to collapse.

Not all improper payments are fraudulent (inadvertent expenditures are all too common in the federal government, but many are “honest mistakes” without nefarious intent), but all fraud should be considered improper.

The President continued his preview of the State of the Union address on January 14, 2015 by announcing that among the top priorities for this year will be “removing barriers” for faster Internet speeds.